Apparatus for making cutouts from a traveling web



E. M. KWlTEK Sept. 8, 1964 APPARATUS FOR MAKING CUTOUTS FROM A TRAVELING WEB Filed Aug. 30. 1961 United States Patent APPARATUS FOR MAKDJG CUTUUTS FRGM A TRAVELING WEB Edwin M. Kwitek, Green Bay, Wis, assignor to Paper Converting Machine Company, Green Bay, Wis, a cor poration of Wisconsin Filed Aug. 30, 1961, filer. No. 134,998 4 Claims. ((31. 83-116) This invention relates to web severing apparatus and, more particularly, to apparatus adapted to sever discrete portions of a traveling web without imparing the integrity of the remaining unsevered portions of the web.

Exemplary of the utility of the instant invention is in the production of end seals for packaged products such as bread, toilet tissue, etc. Conventionally, these end seals are fibrous squares with a quadrant like portion removed from each corner.

Heretofore, this was achieved through a conventional punching operation which had serious speed limitations as well as other disadvantages in rapid wear of machine parts, excessive vibration, deflection, etc. Further, the use of printed sheets caused a problem in fouling of the cutting members.

It is a principal object of this invention to provide a web severing apparatus which overcomes the drawbacks outlined immediately above. Another object is to provide a cutting apparatus adapted to remove portions from a traveling web so that the web can be subsequently processed into end seals and the like. Still another object is to provide a web severing apparatus adapted to remove discrete portions of a fast traveling web through the cooperation of rotational cutting members. Yet another object is to provide a web severingapparatus which is specifically adapted to sever discrete portions from a printed sheet and which overcomes the problem of ink fouling the cutting members.

A further object is to provide a web severing apparatus for cutting discrete portions. such as circular cutouts, from a fast traveling web which is readily adjusted and maintained in adjustment throughout its operational life. A still further object is to provide a web cutting apparatus which removes discrete portions from a web traveling at the rate of several hundred feet per minute wherein the cutout portions are expeditiously and quickly removed from the vicinity of the apparatus.

Other objects and advantages of the invention may be seen in the details of operation and construction set down herein.

' The invention will be described in conjunction with an illustrative embodiment in the accompanying drawing. in WhiCh FIG. 1 is a fragmentary prespective view of a web cutting apparatus embodying teachings of the invention and showing a web in the process of being severed in discrete circular portions, a portion of the web being printed; and

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary side elevational View of the apparatuspartially in section.

In the illustration given and with particular reference to FIG. 1, the numeral designates generally a frame in which a cutting roll 11 is journalled for rotation as at 12. Traveling over and with the roll 11 is a web 13 which is fed thereto by means of a delivery roll 14 (seen only in FIG. 2).

" Reference to FIG. 2 reveals that the cutting roll 11 is equipped with a plurality of axially extending circumferentially spaced apart recesses 15. Each recess 15 is equipped with a plurality of aligned cutting dies designated 16. Each die 16 is centrally apertured as at 16a to provide an inwardly extending shoulder as at 16b. Mounted within the recess 16a is a hollow shoulder bolt is 3,147,656 Patented Sept. 8, 1964 ice 17 threadably received within the cutting roll 11. The apparatus generally described thus far is essentially similar to that seen and described in my copending application Serial No. 58,117, filed September 23, 1960, now abandoned, and reference may be had to that application for additional details of construction and operation not set down herein.

Returning again to FIG. 2, it will be seen that the bolt 17 has its top surface 17a positioned below the cutting edge 160 of the cutting die 16. Frictionally held within the space defined between the cutting edge 16c and the top surface 17a is a felt disc 19 which is suitably resilient so as to be compressed when the web 13 is positioned thereover.

As the web 13 travels with the cutting roll 11, the latter being driven by a gear 19 provided as part of a gear train (not shown), the web 13 is positioned over the cutting edges 160 which have generally cylindrical contour when viewed from the side as in FIG. 2. Co operating with the cutting edges in the indicated severing operation, are a plurality of anvil rolls 20. Each anvil roll 20 is journalled as at 21 within a U-shaped bracket 22 with the anvil roll axis disposed parallel to the axis of the cutting roll 11. Each bracket 22 is secured to a mounting plate 23 as by cap screws 24 (seen only in FIG. 1). The mounting plate 23 extends laterally away from the bracket 22 with a portion of the plate 23 being received within a holder 25. The holder 25, as seen in FIG. 2, is positionably mounted on a frame portion 11a constituting a transverse beam in the apparatus. For this purpose, cap screws 26 extened through the holder 25 into the beam 11a, the beam 11a additionally being equipped with vertically positioning screws 27. Desirably, the beam 11a may be equipped for movement away from the cutting roll 11 to facilitate threading. For this purpose, the beam lla may be equipped with raising means, i.e., screws, cylinders, etc., or pivoted at one end as in my Patent No. 2,870,840.

Thus, it will be appreciated that as the cutting roll 11 rotates, successive portions of the web 13 are brought under the anvil rolls 20. When the web portions are supported by the cutting edge of the die 16, there results a circular cutout. It will be immediately apprecited that other types of geometric forms can be employed for the cutouts such as the square or diamond shape disclosed in my above-mentioned, copending application. In either event, the cutting edges are substantially out of parallelism with the axes of the cutting and anvil rolls so that there is only a limited contact between the anvil roll 20 and the cutting edge 160. In the illustration given, the instantaneous contact starts at one point, diverges into two points for half of the traverse and thereafter reconverges to a single point so that, in effect, a progressive point cutting is developed through the cooperation of the knife edge and anvil elements.

The die 16 has its top surface beveled as at 16d on about a 45 angle relative to the interior wall Me so as to establish the cutting edge 16c. The actual cutting edge 160 may be provided by slightly honing the area where the walls 16d and 16s intersect to provide a cutting edge of the order of 0.004-0.006 inch in Width.

The anvil rolls 20 may also conveniently be constructed of a hardened metal such as Timken 52-100, having a hardness of 74 on the Rockwell C Scale. In the course of operation in severing cutouts from a printed sheet, there normally accumulates dried ink on the anvil roll 20. Through the provision of a'liquid lubricant, this problem is effectively avoided. For this purpose, I provide an oil tank as at 28 which is supported by an arm 29 extending transversely of the bracket 22. While only one of the anvils 20 of FIG. 1 is shown as being so equipped with the arm 29, it will be appreciated that each anvil is so equipped in actual practice. The oil tank 28 is apertured as at 30 for the receipt of a wick member 31. The wick member 31 may be conveniently constructed of felt having cross Sectional dimensions of about 1 /2 inches by inch. The felt wick 31 extends to a point 31a adjacent the anvil roll 20 and thus supplies a lubricant for preventing the build-up of ink accumulations thereon.

In the course of the cutting operation, the felt pad 18 is depressed when under the anvil roll 20 but emerges slightlyof the order of & above the sheet after severing, as is seen in FIG. 1 and designated by the numeral 13a. This eifectively ejects the discrete cutout portion which thereafter is conducted away from the apparatus by virtue of air flow into a hood 32 (seen only in FIG. 2) which is equipped with duct means 32a for aspirating air in conjunction with the usual blower (not shown). The hood 32 may be conveniently hinged to the frame 10 via supports 32b for removal during threading and the like.

The dies 16 have their cutting edges 16c protruding slightly above the periphery of the cutting roll 11, of the order of 0.02. Also, as can be appreciated from FIG. 1, the anvil rolls 2%) are not all aligned longitudinally of the cutting roll 11. In other words, the axes of the various anvil rolls 20 are offset laterally of each other in the direction of web travel so that there is different times of contact of the anvil rolls 2%) with their respective associated cutting edges 160 on the die 16. The staggered arrangement of the anvils seen in FIG. 1 not only provides for a desirable distribution of the impact load, but because of the plurality of rolls employed, there is greater ease in adjustment. Optimum operation can also be achieved by limiting the contact between anvils and their associated dies at any given instant. This is achieved by staggering or offsetting each anvil roll 20 relative to the remaining anvil rolls, and I find three rows of anvils eifectivefurther, if the cutting impact is to be even more distributed, a single spiral row of anvils may be used.

In the illustration given, the cutting roll 11 is equipped with one hundred and forty-four dies 16, arranged in nine circumferentially-spaced rows with sixteen knives per row. Thus, it is only necessary to adjust nine dies to contact a given anvil. With three rows of staggered anvils, at two intervals five anvils are being engaged, and at the third interval, six are being engaged.

In the operation of the device, a web 13 is fed for travel on with the cutting roll 11 from a supply roll 14. The tension of the web 13 (which may be printed as at 13b in FIG. 1), urges the resilient felt pad within the recesses provided in the dies 16, i.e., compresses the felt pad 18. As each die 16 begins contacting its aligned anvil roll 20, there is a progressive cutting action to develop a cutout portion as at 13a in FIG. 1 along with a progressive ejection action tending to move the cutout 13a away from the beam 25 into the hood 32.

The anvil rolls are provided in a staggered formation on the frame portion 11a so that both deflection and impact are advantageously minimized. As illustrated, each anvil roll 20 is equipped with a liquid lubricant source 28 which feeds the roll surface by means of capillary action through a wick 31, thereby reducing the tendency of the roll 20 to pick up ink from the web 13. With this atrangement, the failure of the roll 20 to rotate, as would be the case during shutdown, is not accompanied by any accumulation of liquid lubricant on the outer surface of the roll 20the level of the liquid lubricant or oil within the source 28 being below the exit aperture 30. Also the bracket 22 may carry a stripper blade 22a which has essentially a line contact with the anvil roll 20, of the order of /8 wide, to strip oif any cutout paper which might tend to follow the anvil roll 20.

As each cutout 13a is achieved by the cooperation of the anvil roll 20 and the cutting edge 160 of the die 16, the felt insent pad 18 expands and ejects the cutout for aspiration into the exhaust hood 32 for conduction away from the apparatus.

While in the foregoing specification I have set down a detailed description of an embodiment of the invention for the purpose of illustration thereof, many variations in the details herein given may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. In apparatus for making cutouts from a traveling web,

a frame,

a cutting roll journaled in said frame,

means for rotating said roll,

means for feeding a web on said roll for partial wrapping engagement therewith,

said roll being equipped with a longitudinally-extending recess in the periphery thereof,

a plurality of longitudinally spaced-apart cutting knives mounted in said recess, each of said knives being equipped with an outwardly-extending cutting edge having a cylindrical contour conforming to the roll contour and outstanding therefrom, each of said knife cutting edges defining a closed geometric figure when viewed in plan, and

a plurality of anvil rolls rotatably mounted on said frame, one for each of said knives, said anvil rolls being mounted for interfering engagement with said knives in a web-severing operation, said anvil and cutting rolls having their axes aligned, each of said anvil rolls having a diameter approximating the size of each of said cutting knives,

each of said anvil rolls being equipped with means for applying a lubricant to the outer surface thereof, some of said anvil rolls being mounted on said frame with their axes oifset in the direction of web travel from the axes of the remaining anvil rolls.

2. The structure of claim 1 in which each of said anvil rolls has a diameter of about one-fifth the diameter of said cutting roll.

3. The structure of claim 1 in which each of said cutting edges is defined by angularly-related surfaces extending outwardly from the axis of said cutting roll, said surfaces including an inner surface and an outer surface, with the inner surface being generally radially disposed relative to the axis of said cutting roll, and said outer surface being inclined at about 45 relative to the said inner surface.

4. In apparatus of the character described,

a frame,

a cutting roll journaled in said frame,

means for rotating said roll,

means for feeding a web on said roll for partial wrapping engagement therewith,

said roll being equipped with a longitudinally-extending recess in the periphery thereof,

a plurality of longitudinally spaced-apart cutting knives mounted in each of said recesses, each of said knives being equipped with an outwardly-extending cutting edge having a cylindrical contour conforming to the roll contour and outstanding thereform,

a plurality of anvil rolls rotatably mounted on said frame, one anvil roll being provided for each knife in a given recess, said anvil rolls being mounted for interfering engagement with said knives in a websevering operation, said anvil rolls being relatively smaller in diameter as compared to said cutting rolls, said anvil and cutting rolls having their axes aligned,

each of said anvil rolls being equipped with means for applying a lubricant to the outer surface thereof, said lubricating means including a source of liquid lubricant supported on said frame for each anvil roll and spaced therefrom, wick means extending between each anvil roll and its associated source and having an upwardly arcuate configuration to prevent gravity flow of lubricant from its associated source to its associated anvil roll, whereby lubricant delivery to References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Hoif Sept. 7, 1920 Ripley June 16, 1925 Johnstone Aug. 31, 1926 Baker Feb. 21, 1928 Hallman Nov. 24, 1942 Hoffman July 27, 1948 Asmussen Sept. 12, 1950 

1. IN APPARATUS FOR MAKING CUTOUTS FROM A TRAVELING WEB, A FRAME, A CUTTING ROLL JOURNALED IN SAID FRAME, MEANS FOR ROTATING SAID ROLL, MEANS FOR FEEDING A WEB ON SAID ROLL FOR PARTIAL WRAPPING ENGAGEMENT THEREWITH, SAID ROLL BEING EQUIPPED WITH A LONGITUDINALLY-EXTENDING RECESS IN THE PERIPHERY THEREOF, A PLURALITY OF LONGITUDINALLY SPACED-APART CUTTING KNIVES MOUNTED IN SAID RECESS, EACH OF SAID KNIVES BEING EQUIPPED WITH AN OUTWARDLY-EXTENDING CUTTING EDGE HAVING A CYLINDRICAL CONTOUR CONFORMING TO THE ROLL CONTOUR AND OUTSTANDING THEREFROM, EACH OF SAID KNIFE CUTTING EDGES DEFINING A CLOSED GEOMETRIC FIGURE WHEN VIEWED IN PLAN, AND A PLURALITY OF ANVIL ROLLS ROTATABLY MOUNTED ON SAID FRAME, ONE FOR EACH OF SAID KNIVES, SAID ANVIL ROLLS BEING MOUNTED FOR INTERFERING ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID KNIVES IN A WEB-SEVERING OPERATION, SAID ANVIL AND CUTTING ROLLS HAVING THEIR AXES ALIGNED, EACH OF SAID ANVIL ROLLS HAVING A DIAMETER APPROXIMATELY THE SIZE OF EACH OF SAID CUTTING KNIVES, EACH OF SAID ANVIL ROLLS BEING EQUIPPED WITH MEANS FOR APPLYING A LUBRICANT TO THE OUTER SURFACE THEREOF, SOME OF SAID ANVIL ROLLS BEING MOUNTED ON SAID FRAME WITH THEIR AXES OFFSET IN THE DIRECTION OF WEB TRAVEL FROM THE AXES OF THE REMAINING ANVIL ROLLS. 